Mounting SMB shares in Mac BC

[Aaron]

Does the crash generate one of our crash reports? What type of crash or diagnostic information is available?

If you are able to load the Folder Compare using afp or smb, you could get a file count this way. If you are over our max test case, this could explain the crashing behavior.

And to simplify, this is easily reproducible with a small sub-directory loaded on one side of the Folder Sync session, correct? NAS devices can be tricky to troubleshoot since they can be a bit unique, but testing against a normal Windows Network seems to load as expected.

[Dan Richardson]

No crash report, either yours or Apple's, on the actual crash. Just app vanish. No report on the nonresponsive Folder Sync lockup, even after Force Quit, which is odd. Apple usually asks.

If I load a one-sided Folder Compare, I don't see any activity or a file count, just a list of purple folders. I've just launched another compare between the two NAS, but that's a 12 hour process, so I'll get you results later. Where will a file count show up? Peek shows me the size of any compared folders, but I don't see a count.

The nonresponsive smb:// Folder Sync appears to be related to the Drobo only. I'm not surprised. The longer I own their gear the less I like it.

Folder Compare using AFP on both NAS shows several ._whatever files on the Drobo that aren't on the QNAP, but attempting to copy them across fails with, i.e.,

Unable to create file "/Volumes/PublicQ/Dan/PROJECTS ARCHIVE/Wilfong/2010-11/Mixes/._Nov2.tt9": Invalid Argument

Doing the same compare using SMB yields "Nothing to Do.", all files matching.

[Aaron]

For troubleshooting, I would suggest a few small test syncs between one NAS and your local hard drive. There are a few too many factors that could be in play and causing problems that we would need to narrow down.

The Folder Compare will show the number of files and folders in the bottom status bar, or in the Session menu -> Folder Compare Info dialog. For the status bar, you may need to issue an Expand All to see all items. The Folder Sync session also has a corresponding Info dialog.

You can configure a File Name filter to exclude all ._* files that are present on the file system. It sounds like if you are directly access your drive these files are sometimes automatically hidden by the device, but if accessed using other methods they are visible.

[Dan Richardson]

Finished sooner than expected. 470k files.

I don't want to exclude the files. They're metadata that I would like to retain. I expect I'm running in to differences in Drobo's and QNAP's implementation of afp.

[Aaron]

Hello,

Should the ._*.tt9 metadata file exist on both sides, or is it a file specific to the hardware of just one of your NAS devices? Are you able to copy this file using OSX's Finder?

[Dan Richardson]

Should exist on both sides. OSX is being "smart", though. I can't see it in Finder, even with hidden files made visible. Forklift can see it, but also can't copy it. Interestingly, in Forklift, ._Nov2.tt9 is a 9k file on one side. Nov2.tt9 is a 0k file on both sides. In Finder, Nov2.tt9 is a 9k file on both sides, and ._Nov2.tt9 doesn't exist.

It's a Toast Titanium CD image file. It works, so maybe it doesn't matter. Forklift could be misinterpreting obsolete metadata. Maybe the ._whatever file is leftover garbage.

As I said, I'm a reluctant IT guy. I do audio work, and that makes me responsible for archiving a lot of data. I don't know nearly enough about it, and I really wish I didn't have to know as much as I do.

I've tried a lot of directory sync programs over the years, though. Yours was far and away my favorite on Windows XP, and is fast becoming my favorite again on OSX.

[Aaron]

Glad to hear we can help. It sounds like this specific type of hidden file can't be copied by multiple programs or the native OS; we probably won't be able to workaround this either.

If you are still seeing hangs, I would still recommend the suggestion to sync NAS to local of smaller folders, to see if we can narrow down if either device is specifically an issue. A smaller size would allow you to test multiple times without 12 hour runs. It successfully finished 470k files in a shorter period of time, but during this it appeared to hang? Or will sometimes hang with similar files and never recover?

[Dan Richardson]

It successfully finished 470k files in a shorter period of time, but during this it appeared to hang? Or will sometimes hang with similar files and never recover?

That was Folder Compare, which works fine. Folder Sync hangs immediately if I use smb:// addressing instead of browsing for directories.

[Aaron]

Ah, got it. And when it hangs it is completely unresponsive, correct? Loading network locations and expanding folders can take a long time, and we'll show the 'spinning ball' cursor, but still allow you to click around selecting different files or use the toolbar buttons like Home to cancel and go back to the Home screen.

If you let a Folder Sync session load and sit for a long period of time (overnight for a very long test) on smaller folders, does it eventually come back and finish? Or will it silently crash even if you do not use Force Quit?

[Dan Richardson]

It displays the first level of folders at that address, and that's it. Not completely unresponsive, though. Menus still pull down. Quit doesn't work, stop doesn't work, can't doubleclick to open any of the visible folders. Run it overnight, and there's no change. Also, it's your(?) blue ball cursor, not the Apple beachball, so OSX doesn't know that it's stuck.

Everything works if I go to the same folder using browse.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the extra info. I chatted with a developer to determine expected behavior.

If we're hung, the top menus would still probably work, but the main interface wouldn't allow interaction. The other cause of this state would be if you Cancelled the load and the Cancel step was still running. In this Cancel state, the top menus would work and the main interface would be disabled, but you could still switch tabs. Are you issuing an abort/cancel? If you have two tabs open in a window (once can just be pointing at Home, the other to the loading session) can you still flip between them? If you are cancelling, before you cancel are you able to navigate/expand subfolders?

If you aren't issuing a cancel or abort, that would be a clue that something else might be having us enter this state. And if so, can you confirm this reproducible with:
NAS1 <> Local Desktop Folder
and
Local Desktop Folder <> NAS2
separately?

The cursor arrow + blue spinning ball is our own cursor to symbolize that we're taking action in the background.

[Dan Richardson]

Definitely has hung without canceling. Seems to work OK doing QNAP to local. The Drobo is down at the moment, so I'll have to troubleshoot that before I can do more testing. I hate computers.

[Aaron]

NAS devices can often be the culprit with issues like this. Newer drivers or firmware can sometimes help, but it sometimes comes down to the specific brand/model of NAS.

[Dan Richardson]

Yeah, my second, and last, Drobo is down for the count. QNAP can at least do its own diagnostics. The Drobo didn't even look at SMART data, for crissakes.